An amateur wrestling career, countless jiu-jitsu competitions and nearly four years of professional MMA fighting have led Ulysses Gomez to a promising career at both flyweight and bantamweight.

But the fighter, nicknamed “Useless,” admits to a superstitious side.

So as he entered the third round of this past weekend’s Tachi Palace Fights title fight, he couldn’t help but think about the intimidating MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) streak hanging over his head.

This past week, Gomez (9-2 MMA, 5-1 TPF) was scheduled to call into MMAjunkie.com Radio on the eve of Friday’s Tachi Palace Fights 11 title fight with Cody Gibson (5-2 MMA, 3-2 TPF), whom Gomez ultimately defeated for the vacant bantamweight title. But when told radio guests who called into the show on the day of their fights were 7-0, Gomez instead booked his appearance for the next day. Gomez was determined to keep the streak alive.

Later that night, after two rounds, a noticeably bigger Gibson appeared in the driver’s seat and on his way to a victory. But early in the next frame, Gomez capitalized on the tiring fighter and slapped on a guillotine choke when Gibson shot for a takedown.

Where did the motivation come from?

“I didn’t want to be the one to break the streak,” he joked. “I was thinking between the second and third rounds, ‘Man, I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to be the guy with the asterisk next to my name.’ It’s like losing the perfect season in the Super Bowl. You don’t want to be that team.”

In all seriousness, Gomez is riding high. Since losing his Tachi flyweight title to Darrell Montague (who later lost it to Ian McCall), Gomez is 2-0 in the bantamweight division.

Of course, he’d like to reclaim that flyweight belt, as well.

“I expressed interest (to Tachi officials) in going down to 125, but they want me to defend at 135,” he said. “I’m a fighter, man. I’ll fight whoever they tell me when they tell me. I wouldn’t mind fighting Ian McCall for the belt. I’m sure [Jussier da Silva] has something to say about that. I’m sure he’ll fight him before I do. But I’d like to set up a catchweight of 130 pounds and fight McCall for both belts.”

McCall, of course, knows this is the time to shine. Thanks to a successful 14th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” that featured lighter-weight guys, as well as the UFC’s long-rumored possible addition of a 125-pound weight class, every fight for a top lighter-weight competitor is an important one. Every bout is essentially an audition, especially in Tachi, which has sent many fighters to the UFC.

If the UFC ultimately adds a flyweight division, Tachi’s coffers could be raided (though promoter Jeremy Luchau said getting his fighters to the UFC is the goal anyway), and champs such as Gomez would be the first picks. Gomez said the UFC could put together a solid flyweight division pretty easily

“I think the UFC version of the flyweights is at Tachi; they have one like five or six of the top 10,” he said. “So those six would transfer over. Then you have the other four or five guys you have fighting in Shooto. You have a couple guys in the UFC (currently fighting as bantamweights) and a couple guys from Brazil. Many are top 15 guys.

“You take 10 or 12 to showcase. Obviously you don’t have the top two guys fighting each other because you want to build them up. So you probably want about 25 or 30 guys, and some of them can be used to be build up the top 10 or 12 guys.”

Gomez, 28, just hopes it happens sooner rather than later.

“I’m not getting any younger man,” he said.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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